At 37, Foster Trying to Give Mets Their Money’s Worth

Now, at 37 and in his 17th major league season, George Foster plays some, sits some and works toward recapturing the consistency of his younger years, confident it is still possible.

The New York Mets’ diplomatic posture is that they share Foster’s confidence.

The truth seems to be that they no longer know what to expect other than that Foster can be expected at the bank twice a month.

He is guaranteed $1.8 million this year, $1.9 million next year and $2 million in 1988, having signed a 5-year $10.4-million contract before the 1983 season.

The Mets can buy out the ’87 and ’88 guarantees for $500,000, and it has been speculated that they will. Foster has heard the speculation. He has heard the boos of the Shea Stadium zealots. He is aware that this could be the make or break season in his bid for 500 home runs and a career spanning 20 years or more.

“After this year, the boos are going to stop one way or the other, and I think it’s going to happen for the positive,” Foster said Sunday.

“If you make a friend out of an enemy you have a great friend.”

Foster had earlier hit two home runs in a game for the first time since Sept. 25, 1983. He had hit a three-run homer off Jerry Reuss in the first inning and a solo homer off Reuss in the third to propel the Mets to an 8-4 win over the Dodgers.

Having entered the 1986 season with 334 career homers, Foster had hit only two more prior to Sunday. He had driven in only eight runs prior to his four off Reuss.

The rests that Manager Davey Johnson had begun providing Foster on a regular basis last year had been stretching from one day to two, turning from rests to benchings.

The way it is for Foster now is the way it was during the series with the Dodgers.

He did not play Friday night as the left-handed-hitting Danny Heep started in left field against Orel Hershiser. He returned to the lineup Saturday but struck out three times in a 6-2 defeat, stranding four runners. Then Sunday, he rekindled the optimism, though it was tempered.

Dodger Stadium, after all, has always been an elixir for Foster, who began his baseball career at Leuzinger High in Lawndale. Foster now has 23 homers at Dodger Stadium, moving ahead of Hank Aaron into first place on the opponents’ home run list here.

He also now has a total of 39 career homers against the Dodgers to rank third behind Aaron (77), Willie Mays (57) and Ernie Banks (41).

That’s nice company, which is what Foster is normally in at Dodger Stadium.

Sunday, for example, he left 24 passes for family and friends.

He later cited that comfortable environment as a key to his consistently inspired hitting here.

Consistency is what the Mets are looking for from Foster--a compromise between Saturday and Sunday. They know they have to play Foster to get their money’s worth, but now at times the price has become heavier when he plays.

Last year, while batting .263 in 129 games, Foster hit 21 homers and drove in a sporadic 77 runs.

“If he puts up the numbers he did last year we’re in good shape,” Johnson said Sunday. “He knows I’m still in his corner.

“I think he’ll be fine.”

Johnson said he had no real evidence on which to base that feeling other than the rapport that has developed between them and that the high, low pattern is now the way “I’ve seen him do it for three years.”

Foster never produced fewer than 22 homers and 90 RBIs in his last seven years with Cincinnati. He said Sunday that he is yet to provide that consistency with the Mets and that he has battled himself, mentally and physically.

“Instead of trying to hit three or four homers in a week, I’ve tried to hit them in a day,” he said. “Instead of settling for a single, I’ve been overswinging.

“Today may have been an indication things are changing. I felt comfortable. I had an idea. I was taking nice easy swings.

“I still feel that when I’m in a groove and have my stroke, there’s no better hitter than me for hitting home runs in bunches and driving runs in.”

Compared to his first seven weeks, Foster got a bunch Sunday. A groove? Home cooking? Time will tell.